


Hearts and Spades

by DemonsWatchYouSleep6, Sissytobitch10seconds



Series: Mostly Normal [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Anger Managment, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Cheating, Collaboration, Danish, Depression, F/F, F/M, Gay, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Greek and Roman Mythology - Freeform, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, M/M, Magic, Marriage, Mourning, Powerful, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Roman mythology, Sequel, Siblings, Suicide, Valkyries, break ups, google translate, mindscape, polish, power, unedited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-13 01:11:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 17,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15352929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonsWatchYouSleep6/pseuds/DemonsWatchYouSleep6, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sissytobitch10seconds/pseuds/Sissytobitch10seconds
Summary: Every family has its issues, some may suffer from addiction, other from miscommunication, but this family suffers from something far worse.





	1. Języki

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back to the Mostly Normal series! This is the second work in the series. hermionegirl13 is in Bold and I am in normal text. This book is dedicated to ZZZ23097, who gave me verbal advice as opposed to commenting like she was supposed to.

Maxine lay on her bed with her head hanging off of the end. She giggled and slipped as her half-brother Ethan Nakamura walked in. He stared at her and then shrugged as she began to rub her head. He walked over to his bed, his legs going in long strides. The skinny girl then promptly got off of the floor and headed back onto her bed.

Victoria sashayed in with a small pile of books placed on her left arm. She glanced at her older siblings and smiled, though it was small and not very sincere, it was a smile. She placed the books on the bed when Ethan glanced over at them, he scoffed and rolled his eyes at her, "More Polish books? How many of those do you need?"

She rolled her eyes and frowned, (Eye rolling in the Nemesis cabin was not as popular as they were in the Janus cabin, but they still happened quite frequently.) "Polish is my first language dupek," she said, struggling through her words.

**"Dupek?" Maxine asked with a frown. Sometimes she didn't understand a word Victoria said. "What does that mean?"**

**"You do not want to know," Victoria said as she shoved all of her books underneath her bed. There was a loud banging sound that echoed in from the cabin door.**

**Ethan sighed. "Who is doing that?" he snapped, irritated. He was _not_ happy at the moment, and wouldn't tell any of his siblings why. Victoria huffed and went over to the door to check and maybe yell some profanities in Polish.**

**She peeked irritably out of the cabin door. The banging was coming from her fourteen-year-old half-brother Nero, who was trying out some new drums he'd borrowed from the Apollo cabin. Victoria rolled her eyes again. Why was Nero playing with drums he had no clue how to use?**

"What on earth are you doing?" Victoria yelled over the annoying drum playing. Maxine stomped out of the door and grabbed the drums. She stomped away with them in her hands, and when she reached the Apollo cabin, most of the campers were already shying away from the daughter of Nemesis.

"Who gave Nero these?" She questioned raising them up into the air.

**Nobody answered. Some of the kids even exchanged bewildered looks. One bold child of Apollo called, "We didn't give him anything, Maxine."**

**Maxine sighed and handed the drums to the Apollo kid, who quickly scurried away. The child of Nemesis shook her head.**

**Nero was looking sheepish. "It looked so _easy_ when they did it," he explained to his sister, "I thought I could too. But I guess I hit it too hard. I made Victoria angry I'm sure, and probably Ethan as well."**

**Maxine snorted and gave her younger brother a playful shove. He shoved back with a grin, his shaggy black hair moving with a _swish_ , his dark eyes twinkling playfully. Maxine picked him up and carried him back to the cabin as if nothing had happened.**

Victoria sat on her bed, muttering Polish words under her breath. Ethan stood up and stormed out of the cabin. "Where do you think you're going?" Maxine questioned, grabbing the collar of his Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and holding him back.

"I want to go find Alabaster," Ethan replied wriggling around, trying to get out of his sister's grip.

Maxine sighed and released her half-sibling so that he could go find his friend. There was a yell from the Hephaestus cabin. Victoria and Nero raced to the door and stared.

The cabin and forge lay in pieces, all over the camp. Victoria gasped and tried to push past Maxine, though the older girl would not let her.

"Ale ona tam jest! Muszę iść!" Maxine then allowed her arms drop as she let her sister go. She ran for the cabin, looking for her friend.

**There was a large pile of rubble where the Hephaestus cabin used to be, littered with bits of twisted metal. Part of it was moving slightly, and a weak moan issued from a crack. Maxine's eyes widened. Someone was in there!**

**Victoria climbed bravely onto the rubble and started moving beams and other things frantically, her teal-blue eyes wide with fear. Where was she? Victoria couldn't see her!**

Suddenly Victoria gasped as she was pulled back by a pair of strong arms. "You shouldn't climb rubble like that! You could get hurt!" Ludwig, her crush, yelled as he pulled her back to the pile.

Ludwig and Gilbert, Ludwig's twin brother, sat her down on the grass next to the pile and began to tend to the cuts that she was not aware of ever getting. When the twins were done, the Polish girl jumped up and clambered over to the rubble again. Amelia, one of the children of Hephaestus, pulled a huge piece of rubble up despite her poor health, and under it lay a very broken Elizaveta.

Victoria ran to her best friend with fear in her eyes. She prayed to all the gods that the Hungarian girl was alright.

**Taking her friend's hand, Victoria said one last prayer to her mother and finally mustered the courage to look. Elizaveta smiled weakly. "Victoria," she rasped, "I'll be okay. Can you get one of them Apollos for me?"**

**Victoria swallowed and nodded, letting go of Elizaveta's hand and walking over to a group of Apollo's kids, deliberately not looking at Ludwig in case she blushed. Victoria _hated_ blushing. It had absolutely  _no_ point.**

A child of Apollo ran up to some of the other injured children of Hephaestus. Victoria was nearly certain that her name was Kayla, though, at this moment, none of that mattered. All she needed was to find Gilbert, and she knew that he understood enough basic Polish that he could understand her.

**"Gilbert! Gdzie jesteś?" she shouted, looking around for the suddenly absent boy. There was no answer at first, so Victoria shouted again. "Potrzebuję cię!"**

**No one understood her except for one: Gilbert. He came running from talking to a child of Apollo after Victoria's second cry. "What do you need, Victoria?" he asked anxiously.**

" Elizaveta cię potrzebuje! Proszę ją uzdrowić," Victoria shouted. Gilbert's pale eyes grew wide and he ran to the wreckage. Ludwig followed after them, shouting at his brother.

"Bruder, was machst du?" he shouted. Gibert waved his twin off and then began looking around for his fallen friend. When he found her, he stopped and placed both of his hands on her back, they began to glow. Soon after he did this, the Hungarian girl sat up and hugged him.

"Köszönöm," she whispered as she fell further into the muscular boy. Gilbert hummed and picked her up, and he carried the girl all the way back to the infirmary tent.

**Victoria stared at them with a kind of sad hope. Elizaveta had been Victoria's best friend for the entire time the Polish girl had been at camp. It would be cruel to lose her now.**

**The Polish camper brushed her blond hair out of her eyes and walked back to the Nemesis cabin. When she saw Nero sitting on his bed, grumpily reading one of her Polish books upside-down, she strangely didn't feel mad at all; instead, she did something she hadn't done for years. She giggled.**

**Nero looked up from his incomprehensible book. "What? Huh?" he mumbled. Seeing Victoria giggling in front of him, he closed the Polish book embarrassedly. "Erm, sorry," he said, "I wanted to learn some Polish. Wrong book."**

**Victoria smiled and shook her head. "This is the one that you will be wanting," she said slowly and carefully in English, setting a Polish-to-English dictionary in her year-older half-brother's lap. He picked it up. "Thanks," he said.**


	2. Zła Decyzja

Nero walked back over to his bed with the dictionary in his hand, meanwhile, his sister sat down onto her bed with a shaky breath. Almost immediately after she sat, she stood again and walked out of the cabin, her path set for the infirmary.

When she entered, her eyes darted around, searching for her hurt friend. From the other side of the tent, Gilbert called out to her from across the room. She sprinted over to him and Elizaveta. The girl had some color in her cheeks and her eyes were half lidded.

"Is she alright?" Victoria asked, her words struggling out of her mouth as she made an attempt at English.

Gilbert nodded and pressed a hand to the small girl's shoulder. "Ludwig said that he wanted to see you outside the cabin," Gilbert whispered. There was a sad look in his dull gray eyes.

Victoria felt herself blush, she raced out of the tent and soon found Ludwig. The taller demigod caught her as she ran into him, "Hello," he said as he looked down at the fifteen-year-old.

"Gilbert said that you wanted to talk to me about something?" the Polish girl asked, a blush spreading across her pale cheeks.

"Would you like to be my girlfriend?" he asked as he bent down closer to the other demigod. Victoria was only fifteen but she realized she would like nothing better.

"Of course I would!" Victoria said though half of the words sounded almost Polish.

**Ludwig got the gist of it, however, and grinned. "I know you're just barely a teenager," he said dreamily, "but that means we can get married when you're sixteen or something. Right?"**

**"I...do, not wiedzieć," struggled Victoria truthfully, wishing she had her dictionary with her, she blushed again. She had switched to Polish at the last word, forgetting that Ludwig couldn't understand much of her language.**

"I do not know what you mean," Ludwig said his accent getting thicker and thicker in his voice. His brows furrowed and Victoria leaned into him, humming softly.

"I would like to be your dziewczyna," she said as she stood on her tip toes. Their lips connected, it felt as though sparks were flying through the air. They kissed passionately till there was a cough. There, next to the two stood a very upset Chiron.

"Not in front of the children please," the centaur said with a rather displeased, and yet bemused expression.  **"Also, Miss Alortana, I must say you are much too young to be kissing boys."**

Victoria blushed. If she were back in her time, she would have already been thinking about getting  _married_. She could not understand why kissing someone at the age of fifteen, especially someone who had just, basically, proposed, was so wrong. She blushed and then ran off to her cabin.

**When she reached the cabin, she ran inside and then collapsed onto her bed with a loud squeal.**

**She rubbed her cheeks furiously, trying to get the heat out of them. She hoped no one would notice, especially none of her siblings; they would tease her unmercifully for the rest of her life. She almost wished she'd stayed in the Lotus Hotel and Casino for longer. Then she would have probably avoided her annoying half-siblings.**

**Nero peeked his head over his new Polish dictionary. "Hey," he said, "What's up, Victoria? You look hot."**

**Victoria gave him a weird look, uncomprehending. Nero sighed and flipped through his dictionary. "Um," he mumbled, looking for the right words and piecing them together, "I mean, Co jest nie tak, Victoria? Wyglądasz ciepło."**

**Victoria couldn't help but giggle: her brother's accent was atrocious. All the same, she understood what he said, and she answered in broken English the best she could: "I will be fine, Nero. I was doing...something with Ludwig."**

**Nero raised an eyebrow. "I heard," he said, "and, I mean, you're only fifteen in looks, but you're much older. Right?"**

**Victoria shrugged. "I suppose. My time in that...c _asino_ was muddled and confusing." she was pleased with those words. She'd found them in her dictionary and had spent hours learning to pronounce them correctly.**

She took a deep breath and stood. She slowly walked over to her younger brother, when she finally reached him, she placed her arms around the smaller boy. When the door flew open, she gasped and fell backward.


	3. Zdrada

Around six months later, it seemed as if the cabin was nearly empty. The only ones that were still in the cabin were Ethan and Victoria. Though the cabin seemed even smaller since Victoria spent most of her time in the infirmary with Ludwig. One day, sometime close to Christmas, or rather, the winter solstice, she found a note. When the Polish girl opened it, she smiled when she saw that it was from her boyfriend.

It read: Dear Victoria, Please meet me in the infirmary at noon, there's something I want to talk about.

Victoria's smile slipped off her pale face, her brows furrowed together with nervousness. She refolded the note and stuffed it into her jacket pocket, which had been blessed by Ludwig himself, to ensure the warmth that it would give her.

She looked back at Ethan and then headed out of the door. When she reached the infirmary, Ludwig stood outside of the door with his arms crossed. Victoria raced up to the strong young man.

"You said you wanted to talk?" she asked with worry laced in her voice.

"Yeah," Ludwig replied, taking a deep breath, "You are the first person that I have ever dated. And I loved you, but I think that we should see other people."

**Victoria's teal-blue eyes widened. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. "You want to...dump me?" she remembered that word from her dictionary and said it delicately, still unsure exactly what it meant.**

**Ludwig sighed and ran his fingers through his dark hair. "Ja," he confirmed, "I'm very sorry, Victoria. But we are both young, and I believe it is time to try something new."**

**Victoria opened her mouth to protest and found, to her horror, that a big part of her actually agreed with her ex-boyfriend. She shut her mouth with a snap and looked down at her feet, blinking hard. "All right," she whispered, "Goodbye, Ludwig."**

**And with that she ran off back towards the Nemesis cabin, allowing the waterworks to open halfway there. When she reached the doorway, she was sobbing.**

**She ran blindly through the doorway and ran straight into Ethan, who was on his way out. He stopped suddenly and gently put his arms around her. "It's okay, Victoria," he murmured.**

She sobbed harder into her half-brother. Ethan slowly rubbed her back and then walked her towards her bed. "Can you tell what happened?" the once-evil demigod asked as he reached over and grabbed a box of tissues, handing it to the sobbing girl.

"Ludwig zerwał się ze mną." Ethan stared at her for a moment before she started to speak again, "Ludwig said that he wanted to break up with me."

**Ethan's eyebrows shot up. "Well," he said, "it happens to everybody once in a while, little sis. It happened to...um, well, it happened to me. Just a couple of weeks ago." He looked rather uncomfortable saying this, but he said it anyway. Victoria was immediately interested. "Who?" she asked, her tears forgotten.**

"Her name is Nora, she is from the Janus cabin," Ethan said as he grabbed a tissue from the box, wiping his sister's cheek with it.

"Oh," Victoria said with a whisper. She took a shaky breath, "I didn't know that you had been dating anyone."

"I was the one that dumped her. Though to be honest, it was kind of a mutual thing."

Victoria nodded and then moved closer to her brother, placing her head on his steady shoulder, "Why did you break up with her?"

"I-I," Ethan stuttered out. He then leaned down closer to her ear, whispering the reason. Victoria could feel her eyes grow wide in shock.

"You-your," she began, her voice faltered as she stared at her half brother. "Is that even allowed?"

Ethan shrugged, "I'm not sure if it's accepted, but I know it's legal."

**Victoria shook her head in wonder. _Ethan didn't like girls?_ She raised one of her fair eyebrows at her half-brother. "We're about the same age," she said, "technically. And  _you don't like girls?_ "**

**Ethan looked embarrassed. "Um," he said, "Well, I like _you_ , and stuff, I just don't  _like_ like anybody. You know?"**

**Victoria was still suspicious but decided to keep her mouth shut. She settled on a sidelong look at Ethan and then just flopped down onto her bed, realizing that she was tired. She yawned just a little wider than was necessary, just to get Ethan to back off and let her rest, and then her blue eyes slid closed and she fell asleep.**


	4. Prawdziwa Miłość

That night, when she was sure that her half-brother was asleep, she slipped out of the cabin and out into the cold winter air. If she needed real comfort, she always went to him. At first, she thought that it was scandalous, he was her boyf- ex-boyfriend's brother.

She pulled her jacket around her, ever since Ludwig had said that he wanted to break up, and they had indeed, it lost all its warmth. She was so lost in thought as she walked up the hill, that when Gilbert called out her name, she didn't hear him. In fact, she did not hear him, or even notice him, until they had both collided, and fallen into the puffy white snow that was littered all over the ground.

**"Oof," said Victoria, surprised. Gilbert got up and brushed off his T-shirt. "Sorry about that," he said, holding out a hand to help her up. She grinned and shook her head, pushing her arms up and down and her legs from side to side, making a snow angel.**

**"To anioł śniegu," she said, not even realizing she was speaking in Polish until Gilbert gave her a knowing look. She laughed, realizing her mistake. "Oops," she giggled, allowing the bigger boy to pull her out of her masterpiece.**

"Are you okay?" Gilbert asked as he raised one of his gloved hands to caress the young girl's face.

Victoria could feel a certain heat that she knew all too well rush to the back of her neck, this told her that she was blushing. "I'm fine," she said with a small smile. Gilbert raised an eyebrow and then stuck his muscular arms underneath her, picking her up and twirling her through the air.

"Are you sure?" he asked when he placed her back on the ground, snow crunching lightly under her feet. Victoria could feel a single tear slip down her un-tanned face. Gilbert's eyes furrowed and he wiped it away, "What has my ignorant brother done this time?" he asked.

" Ludwig zerwał się ze mną," she whispered, leaning into Gilbert as he cradled her in his arms.

This was not the first time that Victoria had come to the nicer Beilschmidt brother after Ludwig had done something. Gilbert frowned and hugged her close as she began to sob.

"Can I tell you something?" the son of Apollo asked with a small smile. Victoria looked up at him with watery eyes and nodded. "Ludwig told me that he was planning to break up with you a long, long time ago."

Tears welled up in her eyes again, when the slightly older demigod finished his sentence, they spilled over and down her pale face. Blond hair stuck to her cheeks and grew wet from the salt water streaming down her face.

"I-I know that," she said. Truthfully, she had never really loved Ludwig. The twin that she had loved was Gilbert, hence the always coming to him for comfort. The reason that she never told him was that she thought he deserved better than her.

"Can I tell you something else?" the blond haired male asked, quirking a brow. She nodded. Gilbert leaned down closer to her, soon they were inches apart, then mere centimeters. When at last she could not stand the electricity that was passing through the air in between them, she closed the space, kissing him lovingly.

**This seemed to be the exact thing Gilbert had wanted. He gripped her close and returned the kiss.**

**A slight but freezing cold breeze blew across Victoria's wet cheek, and she remembered the two of them were still outside, in the snow, at night. Somehow, that knowledge only made her embrace Gilbert tighter and press her lips harder against his. _The perfect scene,_ she thought to herself.**

**Finally, they broke apart, both of them smiling. Gilbert stroked her hair, which had grown stiff and brittle in the cold. Her tears had frozen on her cheeks, making her look prettier than ever, in Gilbert's opinion. He leaned down. "I love you," he whispered. Victoria's smile grew. "Me too," she murmured, kissing him again.**

Gilbert picked her up, his hands placed skillfully underneath her butt, as he carried her back to her cabin. She blushed and burrowed her head into the son of Apollo's shoulder. She could not believe what she had just done. When they reached the cabin, Victoria was almost asleep in the older boy's arms, for his scent was somewhat soothing to her.

"Visit me tomorrow?" the German demigod asked as he set the Polish demigod down. She nodded and then stood on her tiptoes, hoping that he would get the hint and kiss her again.

**To her disappointment, he just smiled at her and patted her shoulder, leaving the cabin--and Victoria--until the next day.**


	5. Śmierć

**The next morning, the Polish girl was woken by Ethan, who looked excited. "Something's happened," he whispered as Victoria blinked in the sunlight, muttering in Polish for her half-brother to leave her alone. Just those two words were enough to wake her up.**

**"What's happened?" she asked, sliding off her bunk and zipping behind a Chinese curtain to dress quickly.**

**Ethan shrugged. "Don't know yet," he said, "but the conch horn blew, and I heard Chiron yelling something about how all campers must meet at the dining pavilion as soon as possible."**

**Victoria caught the hint and finished dressing in a flash. Then she and Ethan ran out of the cabin, pulling coats over their shoulders as they went.**

**The day was cold and brisk, a chilling wind nipped at their ears and noses as they ran to where the rest of the demigods were gathered.**

**Chiron was pacing at the front of the gathering. Some satyrs were hastily lighting the fire, and most of the campers were ruffled and sleepy-looking. Percy Jackson and his Cyclops brother Tyson sat together at the Poseidon table, looking alert. Tyson was, as always, tinkering with something in his lap, though his full attention seemed to be on Chiron.**

**No one sat at the Zeus or Artemis tables, not since Thalia Grace had joined the Hunters and the Hunters never came anymore anyway. Victoria and Ethan slid onto the black wooden bench of the Nemesis table and Ethan glanced fleetingly at the nearby Janus table.**

**The only remaining Janus kids, Rio Wellton, Elliot Holle, and Nora Benda, were slouching in their seats, their hair everywhere. Nora yawned and glanced toward Ethan as if sensing that she was being watched, and Ethan hastily glanced at his own goblet, which was empty. He realized he hadn't told it what drink he wanted yet, and hastily did so. "Orange juice," he stammered, and the goblet calmly filled with the vivid breakfast drink.**

**Ethan looked up and saw that Victoria was giving him an odd look, so he shrugged and started fidgeting in his lap. He _had_  been telling the truth about not having feelings for Nora; he'd just been wondering how she'd been was all.**

**Victoria smirked and said something to her goblet in Polish. It filled with chocolate milk and she giggled. "I didn't know if that would work," she told Ethan, "but the goblets obviously understand other languages!"**

**Ethan nodded, not really listening, and turned his attention back to Chiron, who had begun to speak.**

**"Campers," he said gravely, "I have a touch of bad news."**

"Last night, there was a terrible accident that took place just outside of camp. One of the Apollo children, I believe his name was Ludwig Beilschmidt, decided that he was going to leave camp without notice. We believe that he had been talking with someone outside of the camp. I am sorry to say that he has passed on," Chiron said with a sad look.

There was a choked sob from across the dining pavilion. Victoria turned, expecting to see the now deceased Apollo child's twin, but instead, she saw a wood nymph. She gave the wood nymph a confused look and then got up, she walked around through the crowd of demigods, searching for Gilbert.

**She found the German demigod at the Apollo table, slumped over his breakfast, his dark eyes wide in shock. She didn't dare sit down, so she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He looked up, and she saw with a jolt that he had tears in his eyes. "He's gone," the boy whispered. Victoria nodded, suddenly feeling a little sad despite her rocky relationship with Gilbert's twin.**

She placed an arm around her...friend? Boyfriend? At this moment none of that mattered. All she wanted was to make sure that the sad German male was at least a little emotionally stable.

"Are you alright?" she asked with a small smile. Her English was improving. When she had started dating Ludwig, he'd barely understood her, so to solve this, she had worked very hard at learning her English. Though her efforts had been in vain.

**Gilbert shrugged. "I guess," he muttered, "now, go back to your table before you get caught. Besides, breakfast is calling you." he pointed back at her table. Victoria turned and saw Ethan waving at her. She snickered because she understood that Gilbert had called her half-brother 'breakfast'. The Polish demigod winked at her possible boyfriend and walked back to her own table.**

When she sat down, the wood nymph from before was now sobbing next to Ethan, as if he would give her support. Victoria still could not understand why she was this upset. She plopped down at the spot across from where she normally sat, seeing as there was a wood nymph with the water works sitting in her regular seat.

"What is wrong with her?" she asked, accent thick in her voice.

"What's wrong with me? My boyfriend just DIED, and now I'm not supposed to be upset?" Cedar, the wood nymph, cried as she looked up at the children of Nemesis with puffy eyes.

"Boyfriend?" Victoria asked, "Until yesterday, he had been dating me."

Cedar rolled her eyes and then started to speak, though the sound of her voice was getting on Victoria's last nerve, "Well then he cheated on you. Who would want to be with some wench who barely speaks any English?"

Victoria looked down at her food, strands of blond hair fell across her pale face as she continued to pick at her food. Suddenly, Cedar began to scream, when she looked up, her puffy eyes were wide with fear. Just as suddenly as she had started screaming, she stopped and her eyes became filled with rage and hate.

The wood nymph launched herself at Victoria. She wrapped her hands around the Polish girl's neck, cutting off her air supply. "Die. You're the one that drove him away. If you had already been dead, then he would have never left!" Cedar cried.

The bench that Victoria had been sitting on toppled over with the added weight of the wood nymph. Victoria struggled for breath as Cedar's hands tightened. The last thing the girl remembered was the world going dark.


	6. Urodziny

When Victoria awoke, she was laying on a cot in the infirmary, a soothing voice spoke softly into her ear. She slowly sat up, looking around her, she smiled as she realized the soothing voice was none other than Gilbert.

"Co się stało?" Victoria asked, her voice was hoarse as if she had not spoken in weeks.

Gilbert looked up and his eyes widened, they were red and puffy, below them were tear stains. The son of Apollo gasped and launched himself at the small Polish girl.

"Du bist endlich wach! Ich habe mir solche Sorgen gemacht. Bist du in Ordnung, meine Liebe?" the German demigod whispered. His voice was coarse, just as hers was. She pulled away from him with a confused look.

"You're awake! You've been out for two weeks. That stupid wood nymph cut off your oxygen supply, and you were, really close to death. I love you!" he repeated, though Victoria was sure that some of the words had indeed been changed.

"Two weeks?" Victoria asked. It certainly explained a few things.  **Like the fact that there was a vase of wilted flowers on her bedside table. Victoria blinked. "Wow," she said, clearing her throat, "that must have been one strong wood nymph."**

**Gilbert smiled, although it was obviously forced. "All that matters is that you're awake," he said gruffly, taking her hand. She smiled. "Have you been here this whole time?" she asked softly, taking in his rumpled, dirty clothing and his messed-up hair. He blushed and nodded. "Ja," he mumbled.**

"That's really sweet of you," Victoria said as she leaned closer to the son of Apollo.

"You're my girlfriend, why wouldn't I stay with you while you were sick?" Gilbert said as he reached up and brushed strands of blond hair, that had been loosely braided, out of her face. He reached up and kissed her forehead.

"To moja wina," Victoria muttered.

"Hush now, no it's not," the child of Apollo said as he leaned closer to the now crying girl.

"Wha-what if I hurt you?" Victoria asked with fear laced into her words and bleeding through her eyes.

**Gilbert tilted his head. "You wouldn't have hurt me! I was at my table, at least until I saw Cedar strangling you."**

**Victoria sighed. "I don't even understand why she tried to kill me," she whimpered, "I mean, I _might_ have accidentally let my power loose, but..." she sighed. "It is my power," she whispered, "I know that now. I can give people hate. Cedar hates me now."**

**Gilbert nodded. "After you blacked out, she ran off to her tree," he said, "crying. I swear there was a pool of green tears below the tree." he shook his head. "Can you stand?" he asked suddenly, looking anxiously into her teal-blue eyes.**

**She thought. "Maybe," she said slowly.**

She swung her legs over the side of the cot and tried to stand, though her legs were very shaky. When she nearly fell, Gilbert was there to capture her in his arms, she breathed in his smell with a happy sigh. "What's the date?" she asked breathlessly as she stood again.

"March 12, why?" Gilbert said with a confused look.

She giggled, "It's my urodziny." Gilbert's eyes widened and then he leaned down, his eyes fluttered closed and closed the space in between them.

When they separated, Maxine stood there, arms crossed and an upset look on her face. Her foot was tapping angrily. When she saw the weak state of her sister she rushed to her and hugged her tightly.

**"What on _Olympus_ were you doing with that kid?" she whispered fiercely to her half-sister, tucking a strand of bright-blue hair behind an ear and giving Victoria a stern glare, "you're sixteen now. Make the right choice, like I did."**

**"You made a choice?" Victoria asked, giving Maxine a confused look.**

**Maxine sighed and nodded. "We all have to sometime or other, right?" she asked.**

**"That is not what I meant," huffed Victoria, folding her arms, "I meant what was the choice?"**

**"I made my boyfriend hate me," Maxine replied matter-of-factly, "he was already going out with someone else anyway. I just broke the last thread, so to speak."**

**"Who was your boyfriend?" Victoria asked, her teal-blue eyes wide with interest. Maxine smirked. "Travis Stoll," she said innocently, "but he was seeing some Chinese girl, so I dumped him. He hates me now," she added with an indifferent shrug. Victoria giggled slightly.**

There was a banging sound outside of the infirmary and a string of Italian curse words. "What on earth was that?" Gilbert asked as she removed part of the tent.

On the ground sat a very disheveled looking Nico di Angelo. "Where's Will?" he asked with a frown.

Gilbert pointed at the Apollo cabin. Nico thanked him and then stood and walked off to go find the boy.

**"Let's go back to the cabin," said Gilbert hastily, taking Victoria from her sister, "Nero's back too. He's really worried about you, you know."**

"I know," Victoria said as she watched Nico tromp off. She turned and headed back to her boyfriend, kissing his lips gently before she walked off to go find her half-brother.

**Nero barreled out of the cabin a few seconds before Victoria reached the door. He threw his arms around his slightly older sister, his dark eyes tightly closed, his black hair everywhere. "You're alive, you're alive," he cried, "I thought you'd died!"**

**Victoria smiled and hugged Nero back. "I'm alive," she confirmed softly, "Dzięki Bogu."**

**Nero sniffled and gripped his sister tighter. "I know a lot of Polish now," he whispered proudly, "but I thought I'd never been able to tell you!"**

**"That would have been very tragic," Victoria agreed, leading her brother back inside.**


	7. Zniszczony

When summer finally arrived, it seemed like it never would be the cold again. Nero sat on the roof without a shirt on, laying out (getting rather sunburnt) in only a pair of swim trunks.

Victoria sat on her boyfriend's lap inside of the infirmary tent. There were only a couple of children in there, four out of five of them were Apollo children, counting Gilbert of course.

**Gilbert had been shirtless before, but Victoria had eventually convinced him to wear a camp shirt in the end. She herself wore a white tank top and denim shorts. Her sunglasses were mirrored and very useful, and Gilbert had said they made her look cool, so they served a double purpose.**

**The son of Apollo named Will was drinking a glass of lemonade. "Rio was back in here this morning," he said, trying to strike up a conversation, "he keeps losing his meds. He had an MPD attack where he couldn't say anything but 'crap' and he seemed rather overstressed, too. We fixed him up, though; Hanna discovered a root that soothes the effects of Multiple Personality Disorder like what the Janus kids have."**

**Hanna blushed with pleasure and ducked her head. "Thanks, Will," she said, "It wasn't too hard. I just dug up a root and researched it."**

Victoria hummed and let her head fall back onto her boyfriend with a small smile. "Really?" Gilbert asked with a lazy fascination. Ethan then walked into the tent with a sad expression.

"Tori, you need to come see this," he said, his breath was almost a whisper. Victoria jumped out of Gilbert's lap and followed her half-brother.

When they arrived, they were in front of what should have been the Nemesis cabin, instead all that lay in front of them was a charred pile of paint.

"What happened here?" Maxine asked from behind them, her hands on her face and her biceps flexed so that her tattoos warped awkwardly.

**Victoria's eyes were round with shock. "No idea," she whispered, and then a sudden thought occurred to her. "Where's Nero?" she asked, panicked. The three siblings looked at them frantically, searching for their youngest half-brother, but he was nowhere to be seen.**

**Victoria's heart beat faster, and she could hear herself beginning to hyperventilate. The edges of her vision started to get black, and she knew she was about to faint. "Nero," she whispered and collapsed once more to the ground.**

There was a coughing sound that came from the edge of the forest. There was a tall girl standing there. She radiated magnificence, as though she was a horse. It scared the two awake siblings how much she seemed like a centaur. In her arms, she had a sleeping (unconscious?) boy in her arms.

Maxine surged forward to the woman and grasped the small boy.

**When she turned back to Ethan her face was ashen. "It's Nero," she whispered, "I think he's alive."**

**Ethan nodded and turned to the centaur-like girl. "What's your name?" he asked her.**

**She smiled slightly. "That is not relevant," she said softly, "but I will tell you if you wish me to. After all, I did save your brother from the burning building."**

**"B-burning?" Maxine stammered, her eyes widening further. The girl nodded silently.**

**Ethan's mouth twitched in a worried frown. "Who would burn our cabin?" he murmured.**

There was a small pile of something on the ground. Maxine wasn't sure what, all she knew was that she needed to make sure her little brother was alright.

"Victoria, take Nero to your boyfriend. Horse lady, come with me," she said with finality in her voice. No one argued with Maxine when she was in this state.

The creature from the forest recoiled at being called that but followed her nonetheless. "My name is Aaron."

"Whatever," Maxine said as she headed towards the Big House. "Just come with me."

Victoria carried out her duty and brought her brother do the infirmary. Maxine and Aaron walked all the way to the Big House in silence, though she kind of wished that either one of them had broken it.

**Chiron met them at the door. He looked up from his game of pinochle with Grover the satyr, surprised. "Hello, Miss Phantomhive," he said, "what a pleasant surprise. And who might this be?"**

**"I am Aaron, sir," Aaron said, "and...why is that satyr eating his cards?"**

**"He's worried that I'll win," said Chiron with a small smile, "Grover, stop eating your cards. There's a whole plate of enchiladas to your left. Eat those instead."**

**Grover stopped eating his cards at once and started on the enchiladas. Maxine watched with interest, Aaron disgust.**

"Sir, I have a very important matter to discuss with you," the child of Nemesis hissed, her eyes nearly closed with the displeasure of having to use the word, 'sir'.

Chiron made a motion for her to continue. "Someone burned down the Nemesis cabin."

The Centaur's brows knitted together. "Accidents happen, Miss Phantomhive."

"This was not an accident. It was arson. Not only was it that, but it was also attempted murder, my brother was inside the cabin!" Maxine yelled with disgust, "With all of these things, it was also just plain disrespectful to all the Nemesis children!"

The room was starting to crackle with magic, Maxine's blue hair was also starting to rise, as was she.

**Grover stopped eating enchiladas. "Maxine?" he asked, "Stop that. We'll figure this out!"**

**"That's right," said a gruff voice from the doorway, "although I don't know what's going on at all, maybe Tori will tell me."**

**Maxine whirled around in midair. Gilbert stood just outside with Victoria, who looked traumatized and worried.**

**Aaron grabbed Maxine's arm, and the blue-haired girl sighed. Her hair settled down, and she alighted gently on the floor, gaining control over her magic once more.**

**Maxine scowled and marched up to Gilbert. She poked a long finger into his chest. "And how do you propose we do this?" she asked with a bored yet angry look in her eyes.**

**Gilbert sighed. "Calm down, Maxine," he said, "we need to think this out. First order of business is probably going to be rebuilding your cabin. Then we can start figuring out who burned it down in the first place. Right, Chiron?"**

**The centaur nodded, impressed. "Very good, Mr. Beilschmidt," he said with a nod, "yes, let's get right on it. Where's Annabeth, she can help design the new cabin. And we'll need some kids from Hephaestus to help build it. In the meantime, I'll send out a satyr or two to investigate the arsonist." he gave Grover a meaningful look, and the young satyr gulped.**

**"M-me?" he stammered, "but--"**

**Chiron gave him a look. Grover hung his head. "Okay," he said reluctantly, standing up. As he left the Big House he snatched one last enchilada from the plate, giving the rest a sorrowful look.**

Maxine took a deep breath and then headed out of the House. "What are you?" she asked as Aaron came up behind her.

"I am one of the only children of Rhiannon." a silky smooth voice said with great ease. Maxine sighed and fell back into the taller girl, being rather swept out by her rather big outburst of magic.

Aaron caught her with great ease and then placed her down on the porch swing. She hummed and stroked the girl's bright blue hair with one gentle hand.

When Maxine rose, her makeup was smudged from sleep and her hair was out of place. "What's going on?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

 _The soothing spell worked a little too well,_ Aaron thought as she undid the spell she had earlier cast on Maxine.

**Maxine yawned and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to work out the tangles. "How long was I asleep?" she asked Aaron, who smiled. "Only about a minute," the tall girl shrugged, "it wasn't a very strong spell."**

**Maxine nodded, looking quite a bit relieved that she hadn't missed anything. Aaron wiped the smudged mascara from under Maxine's eyes with one thumb. She smiled. "You might want to freshen up a little," she teased. Maxine punched her lightly on the arm and stood up, ready for action.**

She yawned as she undid the last of the snarls from her short blue hair. "Do you have any idea who did that to your cabin?" Aaron asked as she took Maxine's hand within her own.

"Since ghosts don't exist in this part of mythology, well at least not on earth, the one person I thought it might be," by the end of her sentence she had trailed off so that she was no longer speaking.

She then placed her closed fist on her outstretched palm, (the hand that she had stolen back from Aaron) "That's it! It was Cedar! That stupid wood nymph tried to kill my sister and now she's burned down my cabin?"

Maxine was absolutely furious. She stood and was about to march off the porch and to the forest, but a strong male voice said, "Don't you dare. Nope. Nada. Not gonna let you leave."

Maxine felt several pinpricks on her back and then she collapsed on the ground. "Why did you do that?" she screeched as she made an attempt to look backward.

When her head fell backward, she saw a large Asian man standing there, dressed in traditional robes with a sour look imprinted on his face that was oh-so far away from her.

"Why did you do that?" she repeated from her strange angle. Aaron nickered, sounding closely related to a horse. Maxine blew a stray strand of hair out of her face and then made an attempt to roll over. Her attempt was only that, an attempt.

"Because you were going to kill someone. Or looked like it at least. Violence is bad," the man that paralyzed her said.

"And this wasn't violence?" Maxine questioned before she managed to break the rather weak curse. She stood up and looked at the man, who when she was standing straight up, was several inches shorter than her.

"Nope. Name's Nino," he said with a cocky smile.

**Maxine's eyes narrowed. "How old are you, and are you a half-blood?" she asked suspiciously, "and if not, why are you even here? Wait, no, scratch that. _How_ are you even here?"**

**Nino didn't seem to hear her. "Had to paralyze you, see," he said apologetically, "thought you were going to kill someone as I already said before. Were you?"**

**"Not exactly," said Maxine, "but I _may_ just pulverize her and turn her into paper for burning down my cabin."**

**Nino's brow furrowed. "She burned down your cabin? Wow. That's not good. She a pyromaniac or somethin'?"**

**Maxine shrugged. "Maybe," she replied evasively, "now if you'll excuse me I have to go make some paper out of a wood nymph."**

**Nino stepped aside, surprised at Maxine's stubbornness, and watched her as she marched past him.**

"You are not going to stop her?" questioned Aaron. Nino hummed and followed Maxine with a coy smile.

"Oh, I am," Nino said as he followed the angry girl.

Maxine turned and stared at him. "Okay, what did you do to me? And don't you dare try any of that magick crap."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nino said with an upside down grin if it was even possible.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Maxine said with a sense of finality in her voice.

Nino sighed. "I am seventeen years old. I am a demigod. I'm here because you summoned me."

"Okay you answered my questions, can you stop smiling at me for a moment?" Maxine asked as she frowned hard enough to counteract Nino's constant smile.

"Um, no."

"You are ridiculous."

"Yes, I am."

"Leave me alone! I need to kill a wood nymph," Maxine said as she continued down the hill.

Aaron trotted up behind them. "Can you please go back into the hole that you came from? Literally. I watched you emerge from a hole in the ground."

Maxine snorted and Nino looked disappointed.

**"You came out of the _ground_?" Maxine smirked, disbelieving. Nino blushed. "Well, um," he said, "kind of. I came through a tunnel."**

**"From China, I bet."**

**"No, actually. I live quite close to here in reality."**

**"Who's your parent?"**

**"What?"**

**Maxine snorted. "You said you were a demigod."**

**"Oh right." Nino looked sheepish. "I lied. I'm a magician-mage-thingy"**

**"Okay then," Maxine raised an eyebrow.**

"What's going on?" a male voice asked from behind the trio.

Maxine whipped around and nearly slapped a very startled Taka across the face.

"Cousin!" Nino shouted as he moved to hug the young Japanese boy. Taka slowly backed away to the point where he had to crouch down behind Quinn to stay away from his deranged cousin.

"Stay away from me!" Taka yelled. Salvador walked up behind the distracted demigod and placed two hands on his shoulders.

"Boo!" he whispered. Taka screamed and jumped what must have been two feet into the air. After an awkward silence, Rio and Elliot walked up the hill while a very scared Hakizimana tried to stop them. The group stood and watched as the siblings argued.

**Salvador straightened suddenly, he had spotted Rio and Elliot. A smile spread across his face. "Great Juno...Hey guys!" he waved wildly at his friends.**

**Quinn stood up, too. "Elliot!" the Celtic demigod called excitedly. Elliot looked up, his white-blond hair falling in his bi-colored eyes, and saw his friend.**

**He grinned. "Quinn!" he yelled, dashing around Hakizimana's arm and running up to hug the child of Lilith. Rio pushed past the Egyptian demigod and flung himself at Salvador and Taka.**

Hakizimana stood awkwardly at the sidelines before Rio smirked and dragged the Egyptian boy into the hug. "You're not escaping!" Rio said with a small smile.

Quinn and Elliot stood in their own hug for several minutes before they separated. There was a pregnant silence before Maxine broke it: "What on Olympus is going on here?"

Taka laughed and then re-hid himself from his cousin. "I honestly don't know. But just keep him away from me."

**Nino's eyes sparkled. "Taka," he said, "I've been wondering where you were for years! Now it turns out you've been cavorting with the enemy?"**

**Salvador rolled his eyes. "That's the exact wording they used at camp when they kicked me out," he muttered, "'cavorting with the enemy.' Sheesh."**

**Taka winked at his Roman friend. "Hey, no worries," he said, "I'm not the enemy anymore, at least to you. Or Rio, for that matter." he bumped shoulders with the redheaded son of Janus and then quickly stepped behind Salvador after seeing the look on his cousin's face. Salvador glared menacingly at the older Japanese demigod, who shrugged and turned away indifferently.**

Nino stood gaping as Taka promptly walked away from him. Maxine rolled her eyes and then began to sneak away. Aaron tilted her head to the side and watched the blue-haired girl's movements.

"And where do you think you're going?" Lorelai asked as she walked up the hill. She picked Maxine up by what looked like the scruff of her neck, though it was really her over shirt collar. Maxine growled and began kicking through the air as she tried to get away from the other female's strong grip.

"What is wrong with you?" she asked with an irritated glance.

**"What is wrong with _you_?" Lorelai asked with a mocking tone.**

**Maxine growled. "Busted," she muttered, finally clawing free of Lorelai but not daring to go down the hill again. Instead, she shoved her hands in her pockets and leaned against Thalia's tree, trying to look as bored as she possibly could.**

**She scowled as the demigods before her as they mingled together. She let out a sigh before she fell over, releasing an even more dramatic sigh in the process. Rio glanced over at her and then smiled, leaving his post beside Hakizimana and walking over to the obviously bored demigod.**

**"You're a great actor," he said, "Maybe you should join the Aphrodite kids. Or Apollo. They put on great plays, you know."**

**"I know," said Maxine through clenched teeth. She didn't much like Rio, even though they were the same age. Or maybe because of that. Maxine didn't know for sure.**

**Rio just smiled at her. "I found some water bombs in the Hermes cabin," he said, "it's pretty hot out here, do you want to have a water fight in the pavilion?"**

**Maxine rolled her eyes. "Of course. What's more fun than being drenched in a crap ton of water right before dinner?"**

**Rio didn't catch her sarcasm. "Exactly!" he exclaimed, "It's awesome. So how about it?"**

**"Um, no, birdbrain," said Maxine, rolling her eyes again, "that was called _sarcasm._ Now go away."**

Rio put his hand up in mock defense, trying to make her laugh, though his attempt failed. She rolled her eyes again and then stood, pushing her way past the shorter demigod.

Maxine walked up to Lorelai and then fell back onto the larger girl. "Why won't you let me go burn that stupid wood nymph?"

Lorelai sighed and took Maxine's hand within her own. "Because. I said so."

Maxine let out another dramatic sigh and started marching back to Thalia's pine.

**Why didn't anyone make sense? Maxine glared at the gathered demigods around her. She'd kill them all, or at the very least make them miserable. Hate each other. That was a good idea. A slow smile spread across her face as she pondered this. Of _course_. Why hadn't she thought of that before?**

**Before she knew what was happening, Nero was in front of her, a hard look on his young face. "No," he said, "you are not doing that to anyone, Maxine."**

**Maxine blinked. Had she really said that aloud? She certainly hadn't meant to.**

**Nero's hard look got harder. "Maxine, did you hear me? If you try to make anyone hate anyone, I will be ready with a punishment."**

**"I heard you," Maxine said warily, "but it's not going to stop me." she got up, glaring at her brother. He gave her a look and held up his hands. Maxine's face contorted in anger. "OH NO YOU DON'T," she shouted, but Nero had already released his power.**

**A blinding white light flashed before her eyes before the world returned back to normal, she felt her knees hit the ground and several worried voices call out her name.**


	8. Przeklęty

_When she reopened her eyes, all she could do was stare. She was wearing a bright pink dress with perfect blond hair hanging at the side of her head. She was sitting on a bed in a cabin that smelled of sickly sweet perfume._

_Maxine scrunched up her nose and then stood, taking a deep breath through her mouth. When her lips connected back together, she noticed that they were rather slippery._

_She walked over to one of the many mirrors of the cabin when she finally got into view, she saw that she was wearing makeup. Not the normal makeup that she wore either, this was rather the opposite._

_She had on bright pink eyeshadow as well as long, fake eyelashes. She never wore anything more than black mascara on her eyes. Her lips were painted with bright pink lipstick as well. She cringed and turned away from her reflection._

_Maxine bolted for the door, to complete her nightmare, she saw that she was wearing six in stiletto heels. She gasped and then finally made it away from all of the pink and posters of the shirtless male models._

_Another blinding light appeared and she was again on a bed. Though this time, there were weapons. She smiled and then lay back on the bed. Her eyes widened as she felt something sharp digging into her back._

_She stood up and placed her hand on her back, Maxine's over shirt was soaked in rich, warm blood. Her mouth gaped for a few moments before she stood on shaky legs. 'I only need to make it to the Apollo cabin,' she thought as she tried to make it to the door._

_Her feet dragged and she felt as though she was still being stabbed. She gasped and grabbed for the door handle, missing it several times before it slid open and she fell into the cold, blinding white light again._

_She kept her eyes closed for longer this time, not sure if she wanted to open them. Maxine slowly opened a mascara covered eye and looked around. There were bright yellow flowers sitting on the window sill. She glanced around, the cabin looked almost unused._

_"Where am I?" she asked, speaking for the first time since this began. No one answered her. She began to grumble profanities as she looked around the room again._

_There was a tube of syringes and a half rolled pile of Ace bandages. "So I'm in the Apollo cabin," she said as she continued to look around._

_After she was done snooping, not that there was much to snoop through, she tried to exit the cabin and head to her own._

She was surrounded by another flash of white light before she found herself wrapped in blankets, soothing voices talking all around her.

"How are you feeling?" a calm, rather collected voice asked.

Maxine looked up, a questioning looks to the speaker before she doubled over and expelled all she had eaten onto the floor.

**The voice came again, still collected but a little less calm. "Are you okay?"**

**Maxine finished vomiting and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. She groaned. "I--I don't know what happened," she muttered.**

**A hand, warm and gentle, rested on the daughter of Nemesis' shoulder. She lifted her head and found herself staring into the eyes of Will Solace, a counselor for Apollo. He looked concerned. "What happened?" he asked her, "You were moving around and...and saying stuff."**

**Maxine lowered her green eyes, anxiously tucking a strand of blue hair behind one ear. "I don't know," she said, "I was...dreaming or something. Nero cursed me."**

**Will's eyes widened. "Curses are bad," he said with a small smile, "Well, most of them anyway. I remember this curse my cabin mates and I put on the Ares cabin years and years ago, during the Second Titan War. They couldn't stop rhyming couplets for a week!" he chuckled, and Maxine tried to join in but ended up vomiting again.**

**"Get it all out," Will said softly, patting Maxine's shoulder, "and then do you think you can keep some ambrosia down? Perhaps some nectar?"**

**Maxine finished throwing up and wiped her mouth again. "Maybe," she said miserably. Will left her to empty the rest of the contents of her stomach and grabbed a few squares of ambrosia.**

**"Maxine, what did Nero _do_ to you?" said a voice from the doorway. Maxine breathed deeply and looked up, finding herself looking into the eye and eye-patch of Ethan. He looked worried. "You were out for the whole day and night," her half-brother whispered. Maxine managed a smile and reached up to adjust the strap of Ethan's eye patch. "He tortured me with dreams or something," she said offhandedly.**

**Ethan sighed and then walked over to hug his half-sister. "I'm glad you're okay," he said before turning on his heel and going to find his best friend.**


	9. Las

Nero walked through the woods, his head held low and his shoulders slumped. "Why did you do that?" he questioned himself, "She could have died. And yet you've done so much worse!"

Tears welled in his eyes as he ran through the woods. He knew this was dangerous. No one was supposed to go into the woods without someone else with them. But at this moment, Nero didn't care, because all he wanted to do was get away from all that had happened at camp.

**He felt terribly guilty about the punishment he'd given to his older sister, but he wasn't about to admit that.**

**Something rustled to his left. Nero stopped cold, vivid images of giant scorpions and hellhounds popping into his head, and he shrank back from the quivering undergrowth, his dark eyes wide. His breathing was shallow and panicked. What if he was attacked? He didn't have his sword with him (which he realized was stupid of him, considering he'd run into the monster-infested forest).**

**The bushes gave one last shiver, and out popped--Nico di Angelo. The son of Hades looked tired but alert, and when he saw Nero he stared. "What are you doing here, son of Nemesis?" he asked, stifling a yawn.**

**Nero blushed. "Nothing," he muttered, "How did you get there?"**

**Nico shrugged. "Shadow travel," he said offhandedly, rubbing his eyes, "it takes a lot out of me, though."**

**Nero nodded, too embarrassed to explain his predicament to the older demigod.**

He sighed and then turned his back to the son of Hades before he wandered farther into the forest. Hopefully, he wouldn't get attacked by monsters. When he found a suitable tree, he fell down.

His hands grasped around his knees and gasped for breath, tears were running in rivers down his pale cheeks. He wiped them off and buried his face in his arms.

After a while of quiet sobbing, he fell into a rather dreamless sleep.


	10. Niedoświadczony

Nero squirmed, he felt strong arms wrap around him and pick him up. His eyes flew open. "Who are you?" he asked, his eyes not quite focused enough to see anything.

**"Shh," said a deep male voice, "You're okay. Don't move so much, I can barely hold you as it is." Nero went limp, wondering who on Olympus this person could be. He tried to turn his head but for some reason it was stiff. Wincing, Nero gingerly turned his hurting neck back to the front.**

"Colin?" he asked as he attempted to remain limp for the other demigod.

"Yes?" the son of Hebe asked back, smiling as the sunlight began to beat down upon them.

"Why are you here?" Nero asked, thoroughly confused.

**"Nico told me you were in the woods," said Colin with a shrug, "and I assumed you'd gotten into trouble. But when I came to find you, I saw you curled up next to a tree. The monsters all stayed away, for some unknown reason."**

**Nero blinked. "They stayed away?" he asked, puzzled.**

**Colin chuckled. "You sure ask a lot of questions, Nero. I like you. You're one of those kids of Nemesis, right?"**

**"Yes." Nero was still confused. "About that monster thing...why did the monsters stay away?"**

**"No clue, as I already said," shrugged Colin, "Okay, we're here. Apollo cabin. They'll take care of your neck."**

**"Is Hanna Frank here?" Nero asked nervously, "She creeps me out."**

**Colin set him down on what felt like one of the little beds they had in the Apollo cabin and smiled down at him. "Hanna's out collecting herbs," he said, "Apparently something about burnt-off eyebrows from the Ares cabin. Don't know what that's all about."**

Nero hummed and lay his head down, hoping that it would relieve some of the tension in his neck. He looked over to the other side of the tent; his sister Maxine still lay there, though she looked as if she were only sleeping as opposed to under a curse.

"New camper!" an Ares child yelled from outside of the tent. Maxine's eyes flew open and she sat from her position on the bed, then stood and raced outside. Nero made an attempt to stand, though he ended up with having Colin help him outside.

**A few Ares campers were standing in front of the cabin, handkerchiefs tied around their heads and covering their eyebrows (Nero suspected that their eyebrows had been singed off), looking suspiciously at two figures at the top of Half-Blood Hill. Colin's own intact eyebrows shot up and he shoved Nero at a surprised Ares girl, who caught him reflexively. Nero groaned inwardly. What a time to be held by none other than Lorelai!**

**In no time, Colin had brought the two figures down from the hill and over to where the other campers had gathered. One was a satyr, of course, and the other was a small, skinny boy. He was covered in bruises and scratches, his blond hair was ruffled, and he looked scared. Nero wondered who his godly parent was, and what his name was.**

**As soon as the ruffled-looking demigod made it down the hill, a bright symbol appeared above his head, Nemesis' symbol. Nero rolled his eyes and began to slowly wobble back to the infirmary.**

**By the time he reached his bed, Nero's neck felt like it was on fire, and he felt like he was going to be sick. He eased himself onto the cot, laying his throbbing head on the pillow with a grimace. He made a mental note not to get up again until his stiff neck was healed. Where were the Apollo kids?**

**Two minutes later, Will Solace came into the cabin, leading the newly claimed son of Nemesis. Close-up, he looked worse than he had at first glance--one eye was swollen shut, and he held one arm to his chest in such a way that Nero thought it must be broken.**

**"So," said Will, in a surprisingly gentle tone, "We haven't heard your name yet. What is it?"**

**"D-Damien White," the young boy stammered, his voice tight with pain, "What was that...that _thing_ over my head?"**

**"Nemesis' symbol," explained Nero from his nearby bed, "you're a son of Nemesis, like me. We're brothers."**

**Damien jumped and stared at Nero. "You're my...brother?" he mumbled, "That's not possible. We don't look anything alike."**

**"He hasn't seen the orientation video, has he?" Nero asked Will dully. The son of Apollo blushed and nodded. Nero sighed.**

"He did just get here, Nero," Will said in a surprisingly calm tone as he set Damien's arm.

"Nero?" Damien asked with a puzzled expression, "Like the old Emperor Nero? The Emperor who fiddled while Rome burned?"

**Nero's eyebrows shot up. "Yes," he said, "What's your point?"**

**Damien blushed. "Nothing," he muttered, "Why are you in bed, anyway?"**

**"Stiff neck," Nero shrugged, wincing, "I fell asleep in the forest by accident. I don't really want to talk about it."**

**Nero thought he heard Damien mutter, "That's stupid," but he couldn't be sure.**

When Will finished with the new son of Nemesis' arm he walked over to Nero, giving him some soothing cream for his neck.


	11. Wprowadzenia

Victoria sat with her head in her boyfriend's lap, happy that she was finally safe with him.

**Gilbert was stroking her silky hair. "Gilbert," Victoria mumbled, "Where's Nero? And I heard that there's a new child of Nemesis..."**

**Gilbert hummed. "I think Nero's in the infirmary. That's where I saw Colin carrying him, anyway. And Will told me he was taking the new kid there, too."**

**"Why are all my siblings in the infirmary these days?" Victoria sighed, "I'm so lonely in the cabin by myself."**

**"Not by yourself," Gilbert reminded her, "Ethan's there too."**

**Victoria rolled her eyes. "Well, yes," she snorted, "but Ethan's always off somewhere. I haven't a clue where he's run off to today."**

There was a knock on the door. Victoria stood to see who it was. She smiled when she saw her newest half-sibling. "Cześć, musisz być Damienem."

The demigod that stood in the doorway gave her a confused look and then asked, "What?"

She giggled and then translated, "I said, Hello, you must be Damien."

Damien nodded and then entered the cabin. "Who is he?"

"That's my boyfriend," Victoria explained, "he's the brother to the kid who helped you in the infirmary."

**Gilbert grinned and waved. "Your eye doesn't look too good," he commented, cocking his head. Damien reached up with his good arm and gingerly touched it. "Something hit me, I think," he said, "While I was running away with the goat-kid thing."**

**"Satyr," Victoria said automatically. Damien nodded. "Yeah, the satyr," he said, "we were running toward that hill and monsters were chasing us. I still can't believe any of this is real!"**

**Victoria nodded, remembering she had felt the same way when she'd been rescued by a satyr. Everything had seemed like a dream all day.**

**"Well," said Gilbert, getting to his feet, "let's go show you the orientation video. You'll like it, kid."**

**Damien nodded. Victoria couldn't stop herself asking, "How old are you?"**

**The younger demigod looked at her with his pale-blue eyes. "I'm ten," he said finally, "ten years old."**

**Victoria nodded and watched the two boys leave the Apollo cabin, a small smile on her face. She had another little brother.**


	12. Spotkania

**"That was so awesome!" Damien gushed, charging out of the Big House full speed, "I'm really the son of the revenge goddess?"**

**"Yes," puffed Gilbert, who was struggling to keep up with the hyper young demigod, "but you have to be careful with your powers."**

"Why?" the boy asked with confusion laced into his words.

"Recently," Aaron said from her position atop the hill, "we had an accident involving two children of Nemesis and a wood nymph."

Nino appeared from inside of the tree, "The way you say it, you make it sound like the setup for a joke."

**Aaron glared at the teenager, who was climbing out of the hollow of the tree. "It very well might have been, Nino-san," she said, using his Japanese title in such a way that it sounded like an insult. Nino huffed and glared back.**

"A wood nymph?" Damien asked, dumbfounded at the term.

Nino giggled and slung his arms around the new son of Nemesis, "You have much to learn, young padawan."

Aaron rolled her eyes at the Star Wars reference, but still, let the Japanese teenager walk off with the new camper.

**Gilbert stood at the base of the hill, watching Nino and Damien walking toward the Nemesis cabin. By the looks of it, Damien was asking question after question.**

**Gilbert's gaze moved to the Hecate cabin, which glowed faintly with blue magic. A tall girl came out of it, her long black hair swishing, and glanced at a brick. She smiled and patted the brick, then lifted her hands in the air and made a ball of lurid pink fire in the air. She called out something Gilbert couldn't hear, and a boy came out of the Aphrodite cabin. The Hecate girl looked at him expectantly, and the Aphrodite guy laughed, pointing at the pink fireball and saying something that again, Gilbert couldn't hear.**

**The German demigod smiled and headed back towards the Apollo cabin.**

"What's going on?" Victoria asked as she watched her boyfriend re-enter the cabin.

"New kid met Nino," Gilbert explained before he leaned down to kiss his girlfriend. "Ich liebe dich."

**Victoria smiled. "I love you, too," she murmured and squeezed her boyfriend's hand. Gilbert kissed her again and sat down next to her.**

**"Gilbert?" said a voice from the infirmary, "Where's Will? My neck still hurts."**

**Gilbert sighed and stood up. "Your brother is very whiny," he commented to Victoria with a wink. She giggled and let him go, turning back to the window to watch Colin from the Hebe cabin embellishing his cabin wall with a sketch of a teal-blue eye. She blinked. Did Colin like her? If so, he was going to be very disappointed to know that she already liked someone.**


	13. Odwiedziny

Later that night, Nero lay 'asleep' on his bed. The words that Damien had spoken to him earlier rattled around his sleep-ridden brain. Nero shifted and looked at the blank wall behind him.

**_Like the old emperor Nero, the emperor who fiddled while Rome burned?_ Something about those words bothered Nero. What was it?**

**_My name._ Nero realized he'd never liked his name, because of who he was named for. Damien's words were like rubbing salt in the wound.**

**_Does my name mean I'll be a horrible person, just like the original Nero?_ **

Nero rolled over in alarm as a knock rang through the rather small cabin. The son of Nemesis stood unsteadily and answered the door before anyone else could. "Hello?" he whispered into the night.

"Hey kid," a stern female voice answered.

"Mom?" Nero questioned, his eyes squinting to look at the person standing in front of him.  **To tell the truth, he'd never met his mom, so he couldn't be sure this was actually her, but he had a weird feeling.**

**"Yes, Nero," said the same female voice from before, "it's me. Listen, I know you have doubts about your name..."**

**"How do you know?" Nero asked, brushing his black hair from his face, "You just barely arrived. You couldn't know that...could you?"**

"I'm a goddess," Nemesis said as she moved closer to her son, "what you did to your sister Maxine, it kinda made me realize that I should have trained you with the powers thing."

Nero rolled his eyes and stepped aside, allowing his godly mother to enter the cabin. When he himself entered, he was not at all surprised to see that the rest of the cabin was awake as well, everyone except for their newest member.

**Nemesis saw the sleeping form of Damien and smiled. "He came back here, didn't he?" she said softly, "After touring the camp. He's a sweet little boy."**

**Nero shrugged. "I guess," he said, "he kind of hurt me about my name though."**

**Nemesis gave her son a stern look. "He didn't mean to, Nero," she said, putting an ice-cold hand on his shoulder.**

"I know that," Nero spat at his mother. She rolled her eyes and moved closer to her son, trying to press her way into the cabin.

**"What are you doing, Mom?" Nero exclaimed in a quiet voice, "there are sleeping kids here!"**

**"I know," said Nemesis, "You know, Nero, I took your brother Ethan's eye a few years ago. Did you hear that story?"**

**"Y-yes." Nero was nervous. Was Nemesis going to take out _his_ eye? That would hurt. A lot. Nero hoped that wasn't the case.**

Though instead, the goddess moved into the cabin, nearly passing through her troubled son. She walked over to Victoria, stroking the only female of the cabin's hair. Nero sighed and walked back into the cabin, not caring if he woke his siblings.

**Nemesis was sitting on a chair beside Victoria, her hand on the Polish girl's forehead. Nemesis wore a look of interest and chuckled every few seconds. Nero had no clue what his mom was doing but he didn't ask. He just flopped into his bed.**

**Luckily, Nemesis answered Nero's unasked question. "This sister of yours has some funny dreams! The one she's having right now, for instance. She's kissing this German kid named Gilbert."**

"Well they  _are_ dating, Mom," Nero said, his voice raised slightly from what it had been before. Nemesis looked at her son with unamused eyes.

Nero rolled over and looked at the wall, hoping that he could keep his powers under control as he thought of what Damien had said earlier.

"Mom?" a voice asked from across the cabin. Nero glanced up, looking at the owner of the voice. Maxine was there, her bright blue hair ruffled from her heavy sleep. Nemesis chuckled and walked over to her other daughter.

**"Maxine! I haven't seen you since you were a baby!"**

**Maxine shifted in the doorway. "Yeah...um, hi, Mom. You look...I don't know...different?"**

**"Wait, you've seen Mom before, but she hasn't seen you?" Nero was confused. "That makes no sense, Maxine."**

**Maxine glared at her brother. "Stay out of this, kid."**

**Nero glared back but held his tongue.**

Nemesis sighed as she watched her children quarrel. "Knock it off, would ya? Some of us are trying to sleep," Ethan complained from his bed. Nero sighed and rolled his eyes.

Damien yawned and rose from his bed as the sun began to peek through the gap in the curtains. There was a gentle knock on the door, Maxine then jumped out of the way and grabbed a beanie to cover her messy hair. Nero was a bit confused as to why she was already dressed but did not question her as she rushed out of the door.

**Damien stumbled out of bed, his hair everywhere, and walked to the window. He peeked out and giggled. "Nero, come see this," he snickered. Nero slid out of bed curiously. What could it be?**

**When he saw the scene right outside the door, he couldn't help but smirk. "Maxine has a _boyfriend_?" he snickered with Damien. Victoria popped out of bed eagerly. "What?" she said with a devilish grin, "Let me see."**

**Sure enough, right outside the window, Maxine was standing uncomfortably, combing her fingers through her blue hair and standing awkwardly. In front of her was a familiar boy.**

**"Colin!" Victoria exclaimed, "From the Hebe cabin," she explained to her brothers, "he's really nice. But he's boyfriend to _Maxine_! That's hilarious." she laughed.**

Nero rolled his eyes and turned around again, "If he so much as thinks about hurting my sister, he's as good as dead."

Nemesis chuckled and then vanished, leaving her now peaceful-ish children. Victoria let her jolly laugh ring through the cabin as she darted into the changing stall and threw on a gentle red sundress.

"Why are you so dressed up?" Ethan asked as he continued to wake up.

"Maxine's not the only one who has a boyfriend," Victoria explained before she continued to drag a brush through her blond snarls.

**Damien looked grossed out. "You have a _boyfriend_?" he asked, scrunching up his nose, "and you're, what, fifteen?"**

**"Sixteen. What's your point?"**

**Nero snorted. "If its DNA you're worried about, gods don't have DNA," he explained to the new demigod, "so dating is perfectly fine--unless you have the same parent. That's gross."**

**"So if I wanted to date Victoria that would be gross," Damien said, nodding, "that makes sense. But I'm still new to this whole 'gods' thing. So it might take awhile to get the hang of it."**

**Suddenly there was a loud _thump_ outside. All the kids in the Nemesis cabin jumped. Ethan fell out of bed.**

**"What was _that_?" he grumped, standing up and rubbing his backside, "If that was a joke it wasn't funny."**

**"It wasn't a joke," said Nero, who had stopped laughing, "I don't know _what_ that was."**

**"Well," said Victoria, sliding a barrette into her hair, "let's go check it out!"**

**Damien grinned. "You're on!" he shouted.**

The eager demigods raced out of the cabin, all pushing each other as they tried to get to the ladder that led to the cabin's roof. Victoria managed to reach it first, clambering up the ladder, her dress just barely covering enough of her legs. Nero followed after his sister, looking down at the ground the entire time that she was on the ladder.

When all four of the demigods were on the roof, they stood and stared at a near blindingly white horse that stood in front of them. "Um," Ethan said from his position still on the ladder, as he was the last one to come up, "What's that? And why is it on our roof?"

"Sorry about that," said a silky smooth voice, it rolled off of the owner's tongue like honey.


	14. Zakłady

Damien stood confused as he stared up at the speaker, a voice from down below shouted, "Stop scaring the children please."

**The thing with the silky-smooth voice chuckled. "It's kind of hard not to when you're a dead Valkyrie," she said, "but I'll try, Ara."**

**"Thank you," said the person on the ground, "but I have one more question, Genofafa."**

**"Yes?" the creature sighed.**

**"Why the heck are you on the roof of the Nemesis cabin in the first place?"**

The Valkyrie looked puzzled for a moment before responding to the question, "An easy miscalculation."

Nero rolled his eyes and then said, "How did you think that we were the Janus cabin? We're literally on the other side of the camp from each other!" Genofafa shrugged and then jumped down the ladder, silvery white wings making a shrill noise as they resisted the wind.

"Did  _you_ land where you were supposed to, my dear?" Genofafa asked the younger female.

Ara shook her head and blushed, "I landed in the Apollo cabin. I guess Yggdrasil was mad at me. At least it wasn't Boston or Helheim this time right?"

**Nero cocked his head, confused. "What? Who? I have no idea what you guys are talking about."**

**Ara chuckled. "Valhalla, my dear boy. Norse mythology?"**

**Nero was still unsure about all this. "I don't even know what a Valkyrie is."**

**Genofafa giggled. "You're so funny, you Greeks," she said, "go along to sleep now, you'll need your rest."**

**"Gods of Asgard! We're going to be late, Genofafa," said Ara apologetically, "Sorry guys. Maybe another time?"**

Nero gaped for a moment till Genofafa and Ara both vanished to wherever they had been heading to, in the beginning, the white horse seemed to have disappeared though.

There was a shout from the head of the camp, all the campers on the roof whipped around to see who it was.

**It was still too dark to see clearly, so the children of Nemesis slid off the roof and came running to the Big House, where the shout had originated.**

**As they neared the House they saw a group of slightly glowing teenage girls with bows slung over their backs. Two of them were arguing together, one holding a pair of dice: one die was engraved with Greek letters and the other was engraved with letters from the Norse alphabet.**

**The girl holding the dice was tall and looked about fifteen years old. She looked sort of goth, with spiky black hair, dark makeup, and black clothes. She had a silver bracelet on one wrist.**

**Nero had never met her, but Victoria grinned. "That's Thalia Grace," she whispered excitedly to her brother, "she's a daughter of Zeus. And Artemis' lieutenant."**

**"Thalia?" came a male voice from the darkness. A teenage boy came into the faint light and Nero saw that he had blond hair and electric-blue eyes. His mouth twitched in a surprised smile. Thalia broke away from her argument with the other hunter and turned to the boy. "Jason!" she cried, "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at Camp Jupiter?"**

**The boy, Jason, smiled. "I came to visit Piper and Leo," he said with a shrug, "but I didn't know you guys would be here. Something wrong?"**

**Thalia smirked and shook her head. "Nope," she said, "we were playing games with the Valkyries."**

**"Norse mythology," Jason said slowly, "right?"**

**Thalia nodded. "They're fun to play with," said a girl next to her with a shrug, "but they're also terrible cheats."**

**"Phoebe, can you put those dice away?" Thalia asked the girl, handing the dice to her, "We're going to teach them Pinochle next. Chiron's playing too!"**

**"It's really early in the morning," Ethan complained, "why are you playing games now?"**

**The hunter Phoebe threw Ethan an odd look and took the dice from Thalia, disappearing inside the Big House. Nero could have sworn he heard her mutter, "Boys."**

Nero rolled his eyes and then started to walk back to his cabin, exhausted from not sleeping all night.

When he finally reached the cabin, he pulled open the door and then groaned. On his bed sat a calico cat, preening herself. Nero placed his head in his hands and then walked into the cabin, leaning on the door to prevent anyone from entering.

The cat purred and hopped off of the bed, turning into a human halfway through. Nero crossed his arms and looked at the young woman standing in front of him. "Hi, Sara." She smiled, displaying a full set of teeth.

"Did you miss me Nero?" she asked coyly.

**Nero blinked. "What do you mean?" he stammered.**

**Sara laughed. "You don't remember?" she said sweetly.**

**Nero shook his head, unnerved, but then stopped. "Wait," he said, narrowing his eyes, "We were friends, weren't we?"**

**Sara laughed again and clapped her hands. "Yes, we were!" she cried, "You _do_ remember!"**

**Nero smiled grudgingly. "I, um, need to get some sleep actually," he said apologetically, "So...could I?"**

**Sara made a chirping noise from the back of her throat and then turned back into a house cat. Nero smiled and clambered into bed, smiling as the soft girl-cat crawled along with him.**

**Nero yawned and closed his eyes. He was immediately asleep. In fact, he slept so deeply that he didn't stir when a cry rang out across the camp, but Sara noticed. She sat up, her ears perked and attentive. She mewled, but Nero stayed asleep.**


	15. Wypadek

Maxine stomped into the cabin and then immediately got quieter when she saw a woman, teenager, more realistically, asleep in her brother's bed. She ran over to the sleeping son of Nemesis and shouted, "What on Olympus are you doing?"

Nero jolted awake and looked around the room, flailing as he tried to hit his sister.

**"I was sleeping, okay?" he shouted sleepily, "Leave me alone!"**

**Maxine stepped out of range. "Who is sleeping with you?"**

**"Huh?" then Nero glanced at the teenager on his bed. "Oh, that's Sara," he shrugged, "we're friends. She _was_ a cat though..." his voice trailed off thoughtfully, then he shrugged again and said, "No matter. Why are you bugging me?"**

"I wanted to tell you that Aaron and I are going to find Mom. Her mom I mean. Not ours," Maxine said before she turned on her heel and walked out of the cabin, just as loudly as she had entered.

**Nero blinked. Why was Maxine acting so strangely? She wasn't usually _this_ grumpy! He rolled out of bed, cursing his sister for waking him up, then glanced at Sara. Should he wake her? She looked so peaceful sleeping there, so Nero was tempted to leave her alone. But then he thought about how angry she'd get with him if he left her alone in his cabin. He sighed and shook her shoulder. "Sara," he said, "it's morning."**

**Sara yawned and batted at Nero's hand sleepily. "Mew," she murmured (or that's what Nero thought she'd said). Nero grinned. "You're acting like a cat again, Sara," he smirked. Her eyes blinked open. She yawned again. "Was I?" she asked, sitting up, "Do you _want_ me to be a cat?"**

**He shrugged. "Could be easier," he said, "otherwise people will look at you funny. This is a camp for Greek demigods, not Egyptian magicians."**

**"Gotcha," Sara winked, then morphed into a lithe calico. "Mew," she said, sitting on her haunches and looking expectantly at Nero. He realized what she wanted and his dark eyes grew wide. "Ohh no," he muttered, "you _seriously_ want me to...no way."**

**The cat hissed. Nero sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just this once," he sighed, "and try not to shed on my T-shirt, okay?"**

**He picked Sara up gingerly, wrapping his arms around the thin girl-cat.**

Nero walked out of the cabin with Sara curled up in his arms, she was purring and insisted on putting her neck on his arm so that he could feel the vibrations coursing through her body.

Suddenly, as they got closer to the middle of camp, Sara shuddered, her form began to grow and before the once cat was standing as a girl in the middle of camp. Nero felt his face grow red and hot as he stared at his friend, she was wearing bright blue linen clothing and had a wooden box strapped to her back. "Sara!" Nero yelled angrily, as power started to rise around them.

**Sara turned toward him, her eyes wide. "No, don't," she cried, and Nero tried to shove his power back inside, but it wouldn't cooperate. In a panic, Nero spun around and redirected his bolt of power--right into someone. That, someone, screamed and collapsed.**

**Nero was breathing hard. His eyes were wide. What had he done? Who had he cursed? He ran over to the person's side...and nearly collapsed himself.**

**Lying unconscious on the ground was none other than Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades. Nero sobbed. "What have I done?" he whispered.**

**A hand rested on his shoulder. "He's not dead, is he?" Sara asked worriedly. Nero took a deep breath and shook his head. "He's alive," he said quietly, still trying not to hyperventilate, "but...but he's cursed."**

**Sara knelt next to Nico and brushed the hair out of his eyes. "How is he cursed?" she murmured, "He looks fine to me, except for the fact that he's unconscious."**

**Nero hung his head. Guilt gnawed at his stomach. "The dreams," he muttered, "horrible dreams. I cursed Maxine, my sister, like that once. This time was an accident. I'm s-s-sorry!" he buried his head in his hands, shaking with sobs. Sara put her arm around him. "Jeez, dude. It's fine," she said, "He'll be fine. Don't worry!"**

"Bu-but he may not be! I didn't use all that powerful magic when I cursed Maxine and I've never done it to anyone else that's come out alive!" Nero sobbed into his hands. He felt a tender hand on his shoulder as he was pulled away from where Nico was lying.

Will Solace walked over and cradled his best friend, waiting for one of the other Apollo kids to come over and help move the small Italian to the infirmary. Several of the other campers stared at Nero with either confusion or disgust written upon their faces.

**Nero took another steadying breath and tried to ignore the glares from other campers. Sara was still cradling him, so he pushed away, embarrassed. She stood up and gave him an odd look: pity? Or maybe even fear.**

**Nero wiped his face and gazed at Nico's still form. He felt terrible about what had happened.**

**Another hand rested on Nero's shoulder. He looked up. It was a teenage boy, maybe fifteen or sixteen, with blond hair and electric blue eyes. He looked familiar. Nero had to scramble for a name but eventually remembered. "Jason Grace."**

**Jason nodded. "That's me," he said softly, "Hey, man, I know you didn't mean to do that. Don't beat yourself up, okay? Will," he called to the son of Apollo, "maybe we should take Nero to the infirmary too. He's in shock."**

**Will nodded and stood up, his brother Gilbert helping him carry the unconscious son of Hades to the infirmary while Jason helped Nero. Sara followed close behind her friend, staying far away from Jason.**


	16. W Oddali

Almost a week after the incident with the curse, Nico di Angelo regained consciousness and was acting fine, although Will made him stay in the infirmary for far more time than was needed.

Nero sat on the edge of his bed in the Nemesis cabin, his head lay in his hands and he was taking deep, shuddering breaths. A single tear escaped from his eye and ran down a pale cheek. The black-haired boy stood and walked to the other side of the room, pulling out a duffel bag and carrying it over to his chest of drawers.

He tenderly placed several of his possessions into the bag, along with three pairs of clothes, as he could not have his family members thinking that he had gone, even though he had. He took another deep breath and then performed one of the spells that Sara and Hakizimana, who had been trained together as small children, had taught him.

He closed his eyes and then thought of a place that he had always wanted to go, one that he could envision perfectly. When he opened his eyes, he felt exhausted, but the old Egyptian spell had worked. Nero stood in the middle of a cornfield just outside of Omaha, Nebraska.

The city was small, so Nero knew that his family would never be able to find him there, as many people did not know what it looked like. He sighed as he walked through the city's protective barrier. He knew that some very powerful Japanese magicians lived here from the stories that he had heard Taka and Nino tell.

**Nero took another steadying breath and adjusted the duffel bag on his shoulder. He started forward slowly, looking around warily for magicians. He wasn't taking any chances, not when he was still regenerating his magic. He'd used up all he'd had when he'd accidentally cursed Nico.**

Nero continued into the humming city, frowning as he saw two women standing on the street next to him, he did not mean to, but he listened to their conversation.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" one of them asked, she sounded strangely like his sister. Nero shook his head, it couldn't be his sister, the only reason that he could hear her voice in this stranger was that he missed her so much.

"I honestly don't know, but he did leave this note where we would be able to find it right away." The voice of the second stranger sounded oddly like Gilbert.

Nero shook his head and then delved deeper into the city, happy with the secure feeling that it gave him. He continued to travel around the city before someone placed a hand over his mouth and began to drag him into a dirty alleyway. "Nero! Nero wake up!" They shouted he could feel a hand caress his forehead.

When these words were spoken again, he felt himself begin to float away from the earth, though he was not floating up, rather down. When he finally landed, he was in the underworld. He did not know how he got there, but he knew that that was where he was. "I'm sorry, my siblings. But I had to do it."


	17. Braciszek

Maxine and Victoria refused to leave Nero's side as his pulse slowly faded away from the world. Gilbert walked over and then placed his hands on his girlfriend's shoulders, shaking his head before he continued on.

Will Solace and his best friend, Nico, who had woken up three days before the incident, started to make preparations for a burial casket. Victoria started to sob as her brother was pulled away from her. A folded piece of paper clenched within her white hands.

Maxine stood, her already dark eyes clouded with sorrow she ran out of the tent and then to her cabin, flopping down onto her bed, making her still living brothers glance at each other with worry. They looked at each other then raced off to the infirmary.

That night, everyone stood around the campfire with a somber silence heavy over top of the normally boisterous camp.

**Maxine was standing with her head in her hands, trying to control her grief. She knew Nero had been very sick, perhaps from all the power he'd unleashed when he'd cursed Nico, but she hadn't been expecting _this_. It was a huge blow. She'd known Nero almost ever since she'd come to camp. His absence would take months, maybe years, to get used to.**

**Chiron clopped forward solemnly to stand in front of the sorrowful campers. "If anyone would like to say a few words," he said, his voice thick with emotion, "now is the time."**

**Victoria twisted the paper in her hands, staring at Nero's shroud, which was pitch-black with silver stars. She took a deep breath and stepped forward.**

**"Nero was a brave demigod," she began, her voice cracking on 'demigod'. She cleared her throat and continued. "You were very brave, Nero. I always admired you, even if I didn't ever admit it. I loved you, and I will always remember you and love you, even though you're gone. I--I hope you achieve Elysium. You made me proud." she started choking up and backed up to stand with her siblings once more. Ethan gave her a sympathetic look and rubbed his remaining eye, trying to hide the fact that he, too, was crying.**

**Maxine sighed deeply and trudged forward, her head bent so her blue hair fell over her face. She probably didn't want anyone to see her tears. "Why did you have to die now, Nero?" she sobbed, anguished, "Why? You were only fourteen. Too young!"**

**Nico di Angelo stood at the edge of the clearing, in the shadows. Victoria couldn't see much of him, but she could have sworn he was looking at Maxine. And then, after a moment, he turned and disappeared into the night. No one noticed his absence but Victoria, who narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything. Nico was up to something. But what?**


	18. Met

**As Nero approached the gates, he got more and more nervous. Where would he end up? He hoped he hadn't been bad enough in life to have to endure Eternal Punishment. Fields of Asphodel wouldn't be his first choice either, but it would be better than torture.**

**The sentries in their creepy gold masks turned to face him. Nero gulped and stopped in his tracks, waiting for his sentence to fall.**

**"He unleashed the power of Nemesis on the son of Hades," one of them mused, "H'm. Not very good."**

**"But it was an accident," the other one contradicted, "he didn't know Nico di Angelo was standing there. He was trying not to hit that Sara girl."**

**"Good point. Hmm...where to put him?"**

**A hand rested on his shoulder. "Don't put him anywhere," a familiar voice said firmly, "he doesn't belong here. Death claimed him wrongly."**

**"N-Nico?" Nero could hardly believe his luck. "What are _you_ doing here?"**

**"I'm here to bring you back where you belong," Nico said, still staring at the sentries, "Thanatos shouldn't have claimed you. You have a whole life ahead of you."**

**"Thanatos?"**

**"Death. My father's lieutenant," Nico explained, "I don't know why he took you, but it wasn't your time. Let's get back to camp."**

**"But, how are you going to take me back?" Nero protested, "Won't I still be a spirit?"**

**Nico didn't answer. He just grabbed Nero by the arm and started dragging him away from the gates. Nero didn't need anymore forcing; he stumbled to his feet and walked alongside the son of Hades.**

When they finally reached the gates of the underworld, they were stopped by a very upset looking Thanatos and Hades. "Nico? Where do you think you going with that spirit?"

Nico puffed out his chest slightly to make himself look bigger, though it did not work. "You and your lieutenant have wrongly claimed him, he did not deserve to die."

Thanatos took a deep breath and stepped forward, looking at Hades before continuing on. "I did not claim him, he forced himself into that state. The Fates decided that he should die, I had no part in this. So, son of Hades, I suggest that you either put that soul back where he came from or, face the wrath of the Fates."

Nico's shoulders slumped and he handed Nero a note before he continued to walk through the gates, leaving a very confused, and still dead Nero next to the gates of the Underworld.

When Nico returned to camp, he was still distraught. He felt a knot form in his throat when he saw the once happy and jumpy Sara laying on the ground, in the shade no less, looking as if she were about to cry. Will walked over to his friend and hugged him, hoping that he would be happier with the physical touch.

Nico leaned into Will and then wandered off down the hill. Instead of going over to his cabin as he normally would, he wandered down to the Nemesis cabin.

Inside the cabin, was a dreary dismal place, Maxine lay in a heap of blankets on her bed, Colin had tried to get her to come out, but she was simply too depressed. Victoria stayed near Gilbert at all times, as he seemed to be her coping method.

Nico took a deep breath to collect himself before he cleared his throat to let Maxine know that he was there. She flipped around, her hair looked very unkempt and there were marks of where she had hurriedly wiped off all of her makeup after the funeral.

"What do you want?" her voice was hoarse and scratchy as if she had been crying all night, which she probably had.

Nico looked at her, and his eyes softened, this was no longer the girl that used to beat people up when they pissed her off, this was the broken version of Maxine that no one got to see. "I tried to bring Nero back."

Maxine shot out of bed and looked at the son of Hades, shock written over her face as she stared at the small boy. "Thanatos and Hades stopped me at the door. I tried to reason with them but," Nico took a deep breath as he saw the sorrow take over her face, "he said that Nero did that to himself. I made sure he got put in Elysium. Dad gave your family special permission to do Iris messages to the Underworld, only once a month though."

Nico stopped as he heard a sobbing noise come from just outside the door. Both Ethan and Damien stood, in tears outside of the cabin door. "Did you really do that for Nero?" Damien asked, breathless as he tried to comfort his brother.

Nico nodded and then walked away from the two sobbing brothers.


	19. Oświadczyny

Victoria smiled as she gazed down into her loving boyfriend's eyes, it was the night that they were to be taken to the Roman camp to go to college. They were having one last date down at the beach, at least it was going to be the last date that they ever had at that beach.

Gilbert laughed as Victoria tried to tell him a joke, but ended up mixing up the words as they were in English. She blushed and slipped her lean fingers into his, intertwining them.

**The two of them put their faces close to each other, touching foreheads. Victoria smiled. "You ready for college?" she murmured carefully. Gilbert grinned back. "You bet, Tori," he said, "And then when we graduate, we can stay in the city. Together, if you want."**

**"I'd love that," whispered Victoria, and their lips touched.**

When they separated, Gilbert took a deep breath and then took both of the small Polish girl's hands within his own. She looked up at the taller demigod with a scared expression, he leaned down and kissed her forehead to make her feel better.

They stayed like that for a moment before getting down on one knee. "Victoria Alortana, you have been the love of my life for several years now, I hope that you know that. I also hope that you know that I will never, ever do anything to hurt you as my brother had done. I have one question to ask you though," Gilbert said, his knees now coated with sand. He pulled out a black velvet box and popped it open, inside was a gentle red cushion that supported a gold and silver intertwined band, "Will you marry me?"

**Victoria blinked, completely caught off guard by this question. For a second there was a stunned silence. Then Victoria's cheeks colored and she grinned. "Of course I will," she said, "Did you really have to ask, Gilbert?"**

Gilbert beamed and stood up, kissing his girlfriend, now fiance, fiercely. Victoria smiled into the kiss, though they separated soon after due to the fact that Victoria was almost late to the Iris message with Nero.

Victoria raced to the cabin, new fiance in hand as they went to talk to her brother.

**She turned to Gilbert once the two of them had entered the cabin, as there was about a minute until the Iris message went through. She smiled. "Want to hear another joke?" she asked. Gilbert shrugged. "Sure," he said with a smile.**

**"A German boy and a Polish girl walk into the Nemesis cabin," she said with a big grin, "right after kissing. The girl asks the boy, 'hypothetically, what would it take to get another kiss?' the boy says, 'only a sad Iris message'."**

**Gilbert cocked his head. "I don't get it," he said. Victoria shrugged. "It was funnier in my head," she said, blushing slightly, "Sorry."**

**"That's fine," murmured Gilbert, "and my answer would actually be, 'I would kiss you whenever you want'. Come here, Tori."**

**Victoria stepped closer, and Gilbert gave her another quick kiss before the rest of the Nemesis kids came in for a conversation with their dead brother. Gilbert smiled at his fiance and exited the cabin to give the children of Nemesis some privacy with Nero, whose Iris-message had just appeared in the middle of the cabin.**

**Nero was standing in the middle of a sunny, sandy beach that looked nothing like Victoria's idea of the Underworld. He was grinning widely at his siblings. "Hey, guys," he said, "How's life up there?"**

**Maxine giggled at her brother. "The better question is, how's life down _there_?" she asked, "That place looks amazing, Nero."**

**He shrugged. "Elysium," he said simply. Damien's eyes were as big as saucers.**

**"I want to go there," he said, awed.**

**Ethan smirked. "Maybe if you do good enough stuff, you will someday," he said with a shrug, "It _is_ paradise, after all."**

**Maxine gave Nero one of her rare smiles. "I trust you're having a good time," she said, and Nero laughed.**

**"That's an understatement," he giggled, "'good' just doesn't cut it. It's more like I'm having a _magnificent_ time. No, more than that." he frowned, thinking hard. Victoria snickered.**

**"We get your _zamiar_ ," she said, then blushed. "Sorry, what I was meaning to say was, we get your point. Polish problems, please forgive."**

**"That's okay, Tori," said Nero, "I knew what you said. I was studying Polish before I died, remember?"**

**Damien smirked. "You were studying Polish?" he asked. Nero rolled his eyes. "Oczywiście, Damien," he said, "Obviously. Did I say that right, Victoria?" he asked his older sister, who smiled and nodded.**

**The Iris message began to flash warningly. Maxine sighed regretfully. "I wish we could hug you again," she said, "I miss you."**

**"Me too," admitted Nero, "Well, we'll see you next month. Don't forget to tell me how things are going at camp!"**

**"We will," the other children of Nemesis chorused, and the Iris message disappeared.**


	20. Nowe Początki

**"Do widzenia. Odwiedzę cię," called Victoria the very next week.**

**Gilbert called the translation: "Goodbye. She says she'll visit you, and she's not coming back without me!" well, maybe not the _exact_ translation, but it was close. Damien waved sadly. He'd grown to like Victoria, the tall, pretty blond Polish girl, and her fiance, the German son of Apollo. Ethan smiled and waved, too.**

**"I hope they have a good time at Camp Jupiter," the one-eyed demigod said wistfully. Maxine, who was standing hand in hand with Colin from the Hebe cabin, gave him a smile. She seemed to be doing that more often lately. None of the other campers knew exactly why, but there were rumors floating around that Colin had proposed. Maybe he had. He and Maxine had been together more often than not, so it was a good guess.**

Victoria leaned against Gilbert's shoulder as the black van drove away to Camp Jupiter with the rest of the children that had grown too old for their childhood camp.

During the majority of the road trip, at least for the first day, they were rather upset because of the fact that the majority of the campers inside of the truck were, in fact, leaving their homes.

In the days that followed, the ride got louder and louder, much to the aggravation of the driver. Victoria was just happy that she could be with her soon-to-be husband.

 

Maxine laughed joyously as her brother cracked another joke, she sat hand in hand with her boyfriend while her brothers watched the camp fire. All of them were finally at peace when it came to Nero, it was not like he was dead any longer, but rather he lived very far away from them all.

For now, peace had settled over both of the camps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listy od Autorów
> 
> Authors Letters
> 
> Dear Readers,
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it as much as Kat and I did. We both had so much fun reading this. (For your information, SPOILERS: Kat has decided that since I killed two of her characters in a row, that she is going to kill off two of mine, so be careful while reading.) We poured so much into this work, it took forever to write and a lot of tears were shed over our poor little babies. I was in a play during the majority of this so I think that this is mostly Kat's story, these are her babies.I would like to again thank our beta reader and Kat for making this entire thing possible, it truly has become like another fandom entirely for the three of us, we enjoy writing these books so much.It made us all smile when we got to bring back our favorite characters, my babies have grown even further than they already were. I had so much joy brought to me when I wrote more about Taka, giving him a cousin was the best thing ever. I was in the process of reading Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle when we named Nero(he's Kat's baby, not mine) so that is why he is named that, much to our obliviousness. I was also very into a video game called 'Life is Strange,' so if Maxine resembles Chloe, that's why. Victoria speaks in English a lot of time even though she doesn't know English very well because we don't speak Polish. If at anytime you notice something wrong with the other languages that we used I would be delighted to have proper translations. Thank you, dear readers, for reading, and remember, eye rolls, sarcasm, and sighs are lethal.
> 
> Sincerely, Lilly Flower
> 
> Dear Readers,
> 
> I have never stopped telling Lilly that I will eventually kill off two of her characters, and I still haven't done it. Maybe because she'll be super mad if I kill off the one (I don't have two in mind yet) that I've decided I want to kill. Sorry, I'm not going to say anything more here, as that would be really, really spoiling it. After writing this book, I'd have to admit that Google Translate is probably my hero, haha. I had such an awesome time with the plot, even if it meant sort of torturing my precious babies at times. It's still fun! Thank you, thank you, thank you to Lilly for another awesome title! I have no idea where she gets these amazing ideas. Also, many thanks to our beta reader. I've never met her face-to-face but we've done some chatting online, and she's pretty much awesome, just like Lilly and all my other friends that help me out with writing! Thank you for reading our stories, and hopefully liking them. I sure had tons of fun writing these fan fictions, and I'm sure Lilly did too.
> 
> Sincerely, Kat
> 
> Dear readers,
> 
> Like the first one, I absolutely LOVED this story, and for your information, I finished this story on 11/27/17, so if you beat me, good job, if not, that's okay too. I find this book (To me) is very happy, except for the sad parts (durh)
> 
> Anyway, I would like to share some of my favorite quotes from this story, which are,
> 
> "Will you marry me?" That was so adorable!!! I don't know about you, but I loved it!
> 
> (the hand that she had stolen back from Aaron) 
> 
> Sincerely, TimeTurner13


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